The Best Way To Lose
by Prose Vanity
Summary: "Because, Polka," he began in a malicious drawl; she swallowed, "I think the best way to lose is to lose yourself to the one you truly love." She was still dumbfounded, and he smiled. "So, yeah, I accept defeat."


**Author's Note **I took this from my _other_ FF account, the one none of you know about. :D Trust me, though, these are really mine. I haven't plagiarized anything. If you'd like you can check out the account itself, under the pen name _Halyse_, which is actually my real name — Ashley — rearranged. I've deleted them under that pen name. I used that account during my absence, experimenting with everything, you know. So…yeah! Enjoy. (:

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**The Best Way T****o Lose  
**_  
_

A sunny afternoon ensued throughout the grounds. Everyone was at their hangouts - some off to Central Town, some to the forest, and some to the library and dormitory. The day was absolutely beautiful, and everyone went outside to enjoy the last few rays of sunlight before autumn and winter came. Everyone was glad to be out of their classrooms and out into the open, basking in the few more days of summer afternoons.

Two remained in class.

Mikan Sakura scratched her head with her pen, her face all scrunched up, while her partner - and boyfriend - rolled his eyes in exasperation. _Really, this girl is stupid_.

"Still not done, Polka?" he asked nonchalantly. She moaned and dropped her head onto the desk, sighing loudly, twisting her pen between her fingers.

He matched her sigh with one of his own.

In an effort to help his class partner (although the real reason was him fearing he would be staying indoors until midnight), he edged over to her and snatched the paper from under her face to proofread it, making her cheeks bump against the desk and yell in pain.

"Hey!" she yelled, rubbing her left cheek, which was red. "You could have _asked_ for it, you dolt. You didn't need to snatch it up just like that; that's why there are things you call _manners_, you know. So much for being a boyfriend."

No reply. He flipped through the countless drafts she made, and knowing her, guessing that the middle piece of paper was the real one she was going to submit.

She huffed. "Yeah, I forgot. You _don't_ know manners. I guess you're the only exception to that rule. I don't even get _why_ I stay with you."

"Exception your face, Polka," he replied, watching her grow flustered out of the corner of his eyes, "and you stay with me because deep inside you really _are_ a fan girl in severe denial."

She snorted; he merely smiled - and by _smile_ it meant his lip twitched upward - and flicked his eyes back to the English deskwork his girlfriend hadn't finished up until now. It was a three-paragraphed essay, and they were asked to make one out of the idea of losing as a good thing, and how best to lose. Naturally it was Narumi's more gay-ish ideas again.

He _was _expecting mere gibberish, because, immature as she was, he knew she absolutely _loathed _losing and therefore would have no idea what "good" losing would be like. And that was, he assumed, the reason why she was having trouble writing the task. But when he began reading her essay, though, his eyebrows perked.

It seems he had underestimated her capacity to think beyond the obvious.

_The best way to lose_, he read, as Mikan kept her head down on the desk, mumbling and grumbling to herself, _is to sacrifice yourself. The best way to lose would be to actually _lose _and _know _you're losing. Shallow as other people may seem to think of the idea, losing, in its simplest form, would mean losing in a game or not getting what you want. I'm pretty sure that's what everyone else thinks I'm thinking, but with all truth, it was not this kind of losing that first graced my thoughts upon mention of the word. Rather, it was sacrifice._

_I think sacrifice is the best way to lose, because in sacrifice you win by losing. You voluntarily give yourself up for someone or something, not because you stand to gain something by it, but because_someone else_who you care about has something to reap, in exchange for your loss. And I think sacrificing is an extremely noble thing to do._

_And the best way of sacrificing, I think, is loving. Loving someone involves all the risks that any daredevil or stuntman wouldn't want to take - because you sacrifice a part of yourself and give it to someone; obviously I am referring to the heart and brain. Because loving someone requires you to sacrifice yourself and hand over your entirety to a single person._

_Having said that - and I know it made no sense at all - I say this:_

_I think the best way to lose is to lose yourself to the one you truly love._

He put down the pieces of paper and sighed. He hadn't noticed her watching him as he silently reviewed her work, and so he was slightly surprised to see her hazel eyes boring into him, eager for some feedback.

He laughed lightly.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, hazel eyes bright with mingled curiosity and anxiety. He raised an eyebrow and threw her back her question, a newly-formed plan in mind.

"What do _you_ think?"

She pouted, but answered her question all the same. "I think it's brilliant."

He snickered. "Then what's the problem?"

"I think it's too brilliant it almost sounds like I cheated, and I don't want that!"

Again, a small laugh escaped his lips. "It's not good, Ichigo. It's terrible."

"What?" she said disbelievingly. "Well, I think it's good."

"It's not."

"It is."

"It isn't."

"Yes, it _is_."

"Don't get your hopes up for a high grade on this one. I'd give it an F, for all its worth."

She looked offended at his remark, but she still stood her ground. "It deserves a B-minus at the very least, Hyuuga."

"F."

"B-minus. Or a B - for _Brilliant_."

"F. For _Fail_. Because it's not brilliant, it's not good. What part of that did you not understand, Strawberries?"

She ignored the nickname, her eyebrows knitted in confusion mingled with a little hurt. "I don't understand how you think the meaning of my essay isn't that good."

"Okay, fine. An A, then."

She brightened up. "An _A_?" she asked him incredulously. Then joy turned to doubt. "A for what?"

He smiled. "A for Atrocious. Or Awful. Or Appalling. Or Abhorrent. Or - "

" - Fine! You're the one with the good adjectives! Show-off..."

He spared a single glance in her direction before she asked.

"Why is it _not_ good, Natsume?" She was so confused and it was written all over her face like Vegas lights, flashing constantly in bright neon colors.

He pondered the thought for a while, and she thought he was thinking up another smart-mouth retort so she began thinking of her own replies. What she heard from him, though, didn't sound quite right to her ears.

"Fine. I give up."

She choked. _The_ Natsume Hyuuga, give up to one of their arguments? She touched his forehead and felt for his temperature.

"Are you all right?" she asked dumbly, at a loss for words at Hyuuga's sudden acceptance of defeat. "Why - what the - why did you just say that? Natsume, you do realize you just _lost _to me, right?"

She still didn't get it, not at all.

He stood up from his seat and went to stand beside her, bending so that his face was level to hers. "Because, Polka," he began in a malicious drawl; she swallowed, "I think the best way to lose is to lose yourself to the one you truly love."

She was still dumbfounded, and he smiled.

"So, yeah, I accept defeat."

And he kissed her.

"You are one cheap, corny, _sappy_ monkey, Natsume Hyuuga," she whispered after he broke off the kiss for a gasp of air.

He smirked. "You love it, who cares?"

_Indeed_, he thought, _this is the best way to lose._


End file.
